Here's What Hiccups Actually Are—and How to Get Rid of Them

If you’ve ever Googled “how to get rid of hiccups” in a bout of frustration, we can’t really blame you. The human body is endlessly awe-inspiring—hello, snowboarder who finished a race after breaking his neck—but, as anyone who’s experienced hiccups in the middle of a job interview or date knows, it can be incredibly annoying as well. With that in mind, is there anything you can do to cure hiccups on your own? Maybe.

First, let’s go over what exactly hiccups are.

Your diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle right below your lungs, and it’s the main muscle you use to breathe, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Whenever you breathe in, your diaphragm tightens and moves downward. When you breathe out, it relaxes and rises into your chest cavity.

When something irritates your diaphragm, it can spasm and make you suck air into your throat. Oops, now you’ve got the hiccups. After every contraction of your diaphragm, your vocal cords clamp shut, creating that characteristic “hic” sound, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Most hiccups will subside after a few minutes, but in rare cases they can last much longer than that.

Experts know that various things can trigger short-term hiccups, like drinking carbonated beverages and alcohol, eating a lot, excitement or stress, swallowing air when chewing gum, or even sudden temperature changes, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The actual mechanisms behind why these factors can cause hiccups are a little less clear. With that said, it’s thought to involve a reflex between the phrenic and vagus nerves that run from the neck into the diaphragm via the chest, Celine Thum, M.D., who has treated people in the emergency room for significant pain and difficulty eating and communicating caused by prolonged hiccups, tells SELF.

“There is a hiccup reflex arc that relies on multiple neural pathways, which is thought to include ‘input’ from nerves like the phrenic and vagus nerve, a central nervous system mediator, which may be either in the brain or spinal cord, and ‘output’ to nerves that are responsible for the sudden contraction of the diaphragm and closure of the [vocal cords],” Dr. Van Groningen explains.

Hiccups that last longer than 48 hours tend to have underlying factors, like nerve damage or irritation from gastroesophageal reflux, which happens when stomach acid backs up into your esophagus, causing heartburn. Metabolic conditions can also screw with your hiccup reflex. For example, people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes might experience damage to their vagus nerves, which can influence how well their bodies regulate hiccups.

It’s a similar story with health conditions, like multiple sclerosis, that might impair your central nervous system, thereby affecting your body’s ability to control your hiccups normally. Some of those include meningitis and a traumatic brain injury, the Mayo Clinic says. Various drugs, including tranquilizers and steroids, can also contribute to hiccups.

OK, but actually, how do you get rid of hiccups?

Maybe your parents always told you to take sips of water in quick succession or to hold your breath—and sometimes these kinds of tactics can work. In fact, doctors recommend these kinds of home “cures” as the first line of attack because there’s no real medical consensus on how exactly to handle hiccups.

“My go-to home remedy is taking 20 tiny sips of water in a row, as quickly as possible,” says Dr. Thum, adding that this works with her patients the majority of the time. “By swallowing water repeatedly, you can’t breathe in so quickly, forcing your body to calm down. [This] slows down its nerve impulses to the diaphragm,” she says.

Holding your breath may work in the same way, by pacing your nerve impulses to your diaphragm, and hopefully stopping your hiccup reflex as a result.

Another well-known hiccup home remedy involves surprising someone, which can force them to take a deep breath, potentially interrupting the reflex arc and stopping their hiccups, Dr. Thum explains. Unfortunately, you can’t quite do this one on yourself—and probably shouldn’t with people you know who absolutely hate being surprised.

As annoying as hiccups are, they’re usually nothing to worry about.

They’ll likely come and go, as they have countless times before in your life. But if your hiccups last longer than 48 hours, or if you experience other symptoms such as fever, intense chest pain, difficulty breathing, and inability to keep food down, you should seek medical attention to rule out an underlying medical condition like gastroesophageal reflux, Dr. Thum advises.

If home remedies (or just waiting it out) doesn’t stop your hiccups, your doctor may prescribe a medication to calm your hiccups, according to the Mayo Clinic. For severe cases, your doctor might even try injecting an anesthetic to influence how your phrenic nerve behaves. If hiccups are really interfering with your life, there are also battery-operated tools, implanted surgically, that can send mild electrical impulses to your vagus nerve.

Your hiccups might suck in the moment, but on the bright side, they’ll probably be gone before you know it.